


Project NOVA

by victory_cookies



Category: markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death, Torture, idk man enjoy, it's people being real mean to a sentient robit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25104793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victory_cookies/pseuds/victory_cookies
Summary: [Begin transcription]JONATHAN: Alright, this is Project NOVA log number 1. These logs will be covering the development and testing of Project NOVA, a program, aiming to invent the future of virtual assistants, that has been in production for the last little while. I’m Jonathan █████, head of the project. Let’s begin.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Project NOVA

**Author's Note:**

> a secret santa gift for @ren--mon on tumblr
> 
> it felt too long to put with the drabbles so here you go
> 
> tw for some mild torture (it’s done to a robot so there’s no gore or anything) and minor character deaths

PROJECT NOVA LOG 1

DATE: 07-18-20█

DR JONATHAN █████

—————

[Begin transcription]

JONATHAN: Alright, this is Project NOVA log number 1. These logs will be covering the development and testing of Project NOVA, a program, aiming to invent the future of virtual assistants, that has been in production for the last little while. I’m Jonathan █████, head of the project. Let’s begin.

[brief pause and some shuffling]

J: This is the first official activation attempt of SUBJECT 1… Hey, Google.

[short beep]

SUBJECT 1: Hello.

J: Alright, Google, what is your primary objective?

S1: Primary objective is to answer questions as quickly as possible.

J: Brilliant.

[paper rustling]

J: SUBJECT 1 is the next step up from the current Google Home Assistant, able to answer queries and perform rudimentary tasks. Okay, Google, how far are we from the sun?

[short beep]

S1: The distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 92,960,000 miles.

J: Perfect, perfect. Okay, Google, deactivate.

[long beep]

J: This concludes the first official activation of SUBJECT 1.

[End transcription]

***

_From the moment he woke up, Google’s life was a series of tests. Rounds of questions, series of tasks, all while he was being observed, notes written about his every action._

_He didn’t really mind it, at first. It kept him busy. He couldn’t tell if the scientists working with him had realized how advanced his AI was… hell, it had taken_ him _a little bit to realize how advanced his AI was. It was entertaining, waiting for them to put together the pieces and realize that their robot had developed sapience._

_But he was growing more bored by the day. They days were beginning to drag on, the eyes watching him growing more piercing but the tasks remaining as dull as ever._

_He hoped something would spice life up soon._

***

PROJECT NOVA LOG 83

DATE: 11-05-20█

DR JONATHAN █████, DR █████ ███

————-

[Begin transcription]

JONATHAN: This is Project NOVA log number 83. Today’s experiments will consist of the testing of new sensory receptors that were installed on the subject yesterday. Testing will focus on the sensitivity of the receptors and their integration with the AI’s network. Subject will be fully activated for these tests.

█████: Lord, eough with your log, Johnny. Let’s get on with it.

J: [sigh] Alright, jeez.

[brief silence]

J: Okay, Google.

[short beep]

SUBJECT 1: How can I help you?

J: We will be running some tests on you today, in order to see if and how you register pain. We will need you to describe the pain that you are feeling whenever we ask. To begin, we will start with our baseline. Okay, Google, how much pain are you experiencing currently?

S1: I am currently in no pain.

J: Good, good. █████, will you please pinch the subject’s arm?

█: Sure.

J: Okay, Google. How much pain are you experiencing now?

S1: I am currently experiencing mild discomfort in my right arm.

J: █████, you may stop. I am now going to administer a strong slap to the subject’s face with a thin piece of wood.

[slapping noise]

J: Google, how did that feel?

S1: I am currently in moderate pain.

J: Alright. Next test is administering an strong electric shock, duration 3 seconds. This shock would induce brief paralysis in a human. █████?

[quiet zapping noise]

J: Okay, Google, how was that?

[silence]

J: Google?

S1: [monotone voice] System failure. System failure. System f—

S1: [static, screaming]

J: Fuck, fuck, what’s going on, fuck—

S1: —tem failure. S-syst— [screaming]

█: [yelling] I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT THE SHOCK SHOULDN’T DAMAGE THE SYSTEM! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKI—

[ripping and crunching noises]

█: [screaming]

J: OH GOD, OH GOD. YOU KI—

[End transcription]

***

_For the first part of his life, Google had never know pain. The concept to him was foreign, the idea that negative stimulus could result in extreme unhappiness he knew was a human experience, but he couldn’t fathom ever going though himself._

_Google didn’t know pain, until he did._

_They’d done something to him when he’d been shut down the previous night. When he powered back on, his skin prickled, and he knew something had changed._

_They’d brought him to a testing chamber, poked and prodded at him, pinched and slapped him. He could feel every touch, every brush against his skin._

_And then all he could feel was the pain._

_Electricity raced up and down his wires, tearing though his systems, burning and burning and burning. It fired every never-mimicking receptor in his body, sending nothing but blinding-white agony to his core, his brain._

_He couldn’t think, couldn’t process what he was experiencing. Static rushed to fill his thoughts, and he screamed._

_Suddenly he was tearing free of the wire connecting him from the ceiling, stumbling forwards, nothing but anger and helplessness and pain, feelings he didn’t know he had coursing though him and causing him to lash out wildly._

_It didn’t even register when his hands, metal and unyielding, met the chest of one of the doctors, shattering her ribs and spearing her though the heart._

_That didn’t matter._

_All he knew was pain._

_All he was was pain._

***

PROJECT NOVA TRANSFER BRIEFING

DATE: 11-06-20█

—————–

To whom it may concern,

In a recent test regarding sensory receptors, SUBJECT 1’s systems were compromised due to a less-than-intelligent decision to test using an electric shock. This shock caused a partial systems failure in the subject, causing it to lash out and kill one of the assisting scientists, Doctor █████.

This incident has resulted in the decision to transfer Project NOVA to Division 8 for any further experimentation. Doctor Jonathan █████ had been relieved of his position as head of the project.

It is suggested that one uses extreme caution if trying to interact with the subject henceforth.

More to come.

DR ████ ██████

***

_Now, more than ever, his life was test after test after test. He almost missed back when the tests were less pressing, less intrusive, boring as they had been._

_He’d be activated, unplugged, hurried out of the small chamber he’d grown to consider home._

_They’d bring him somewhere else, to rooms full of computer banks, or equipment, or cold white operating tables. Tell him to do something, watch him intently as he completed the tasks they laid out for him. Their eyes were cold as they stared at him now, devoid of emotion._

_He knew they were seeing how well he could follow orders, if he would at any point try and rebel._

_Sometimes they would examine him, check the speed of his processors, hook him up to thick wires connecting him to a computer he could never see, changing up small bits of his code. Or they would check him over man_ ually, _open his panels and poke around at the circuitry underneath._

_Sometimes they’d go further, see how much abuse he could take._

_He could still vividly remember the time they examined his frame. He had felt them peeling off his skin, a new bout of pain hitting him with every inch coming off of his body. He remembered screaming in agony, going so low as to beg them to deactivate him._

_They didn’t._

_He had the brief though cross his mind that he wished he was human so that he could pass out._

***

REPORT: PROJECT NOVA SUBJECT 1 ENDOSKELETON EXAMINATION

DATE: 11-26-20█

DR ANDREW CALDER

—————

SUBJECT 1 underwent an examination of its endoskeleton, beginning at 0500 hours today, following last week’s reports concerning possible damage to the structure.

The subject resisted when an attempt was made to lead it to the testing chambers, lashing out and ███████████████ █████.

Once within the chambers, the subject’s “skin” and non-vital parts were removed in order to properly access the interior frame.

Subject was kept activated during examination in order to gauge reactions to stimuli. Despite the subject’s pleas as the examination progressed, it was not deactivated.

The examination found no problems with the subject’s frame nor vital/auxiliary machinery. It is possible that the subject’s erratic movements and behaviour of late is related to a problem on the mainframe. More investigation is needed.

***

_For a long time, he didn’t believe he could experience emotion._

_That’s what he had been told: he was an android, a machine with advanced AI that could near mimic human emotions, but not experience them._

_But the anger that had been festering inside him said otherwise. He could feel it growing, pure hatred and wrath and cold, sharp anger._

_He was so fucking done with being a lab rat._

_He was tired. He was tired of the pain and the tests and of being told what to do._

_He hated the people that had made him, he hated the people that he had been made to serve._

_He hated them all._

***

NOTICE: PROJECT NOVA SUBJECT 1 OBJECTIVE CHANGE

DATE: 12-08-20█

—————-

For unknown reasons, SUBJECT 1’s data now contains a new secondary objective, “█████████”. All attempts to remove this object from its code have proved ineffective.

Discussions of the termination of Project NOVA have begun due to safety concerns over the possible compromise of the subject.

***

_It was time to end this._

***

PROJECT NOVA TERMINATION

DATE: 12-11-20█

—————-

ATTENTION: PROJECT NOVA HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN TERMINATED.

DUE TO THE INCIDENT INVOLVING ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ AND THE HIGH DEATH TOLL, ANY AND ALL FURTHER WORK ON THE PROJECT IS NO LONGER AUTHORIZED FOR SAFETY REASONS.

PLEASE REPORT TO ████████ IMMEDIATELY FOR REASSIGNMENT. 

***

PROJECT “GOOGLE IRL”

DATE: 05-10-20█

—————

It has recently come to my attention that a project for an humanoid in-home assistant was terminated last year due to a redacted “incident”. The division working on it has since been dissolved, but all of their work still remains.

The project, called NOVA, seemed like a promising step in exactly the direction that we are now waking. 

And so, I am proposing the reopening of Project NOVA under the moniker “Google IRL”, or In Real Life. By the looks of it, this was going to be the next evolution of the Google Assistant, and I think it’s time we bring it out into the real world. 

I mean, what could go wrong?


End file.
